This Pine Cone Bird Feeder is a Great Winter Craft

admin October 6, 2021 2 min read

A Pine Cone Bird Feeder is a fun natural project kids can make for feeding wildlife. My kids love to watch and see if any squirrels are coming out to play in our yard. Lately we’ve been watching lots of new birds coming into our yard. They get so excited with each new one they spot!

We also like making Holiday Scented Pinecones for the holidays. It’s such a fun family tradition!

Did you know that late winter is actually the ideal time to make a bird feeder? You might think of it as a summer project, but birds don’t need much help in the summer.

Although this project is fun to make with kids of all ages, a Pine Cone Bird Feeder is an easy preschool craft that encourages more birds to fly by your windows. Your kids will have so much fun making them and they pretty much can’t mess them up which means a less stressful project. Try identifying the birds or counting them and you’ve got an art and science lesson at the same time.

Pine Cone Bird Feeder

Let’s get started!

Supplies needed:

Pinecone (we used large pine cones, but you can use any size)
Peanut butter
Bird seed
String, twine, wire

Directions

The first thing you want to do is tie the string, twine or wire to the pine cone before you begin. Leave a long enough piece at the top so you can hang the pine cone bird feeder later.

Next, cover the pine cone in peanut butter. A thicker peanut butter works better here so it will adhere to the pine cone better. A preschooler should be able to do this step with very little, if any, help.

Now, coat the peanut butter in bird seed. We rolled our pine cone in a dish filled with peanut butter and poured bird seed on as well. We then patted the bird seed in to ensure it would all stick well.

Finally, find a place to hang your Pine Cone Bird Feeder outside. If you have neighborhood cats, then you’ll want to find a high enough place that makes it harder for them to snatch any hungry birds. We live on a farm and have barn cats so I’ve found that hanging bird feeders at least 10 feet high keeps the cats at bay and gives birds lots of safety just in case.